KENDRAPARA: Two days after Babita Tarai, wife of BJD leader and Kendrapara MLA Kishor Chandra Tarai, was declared elected unopposed for the Panchayat Samiti member post from Penthapala, the Congress activists took to the streets on Tuesday and blocked the road in front of the Panthapal panchayat office.
The Congress supporters are demanding that the two other women candidates, Gayatri Sethi and Pramila Mallick, should contest the poll as both are Dalit candidates and have not withdrawn their nominations.
The controversy erupted on Sunday, a day after Pattamundai Block Development Officer (BDO) claimed that the two women nominees had withdrawn their candidatures following which he declared Babita elected unopposed.
Meanwhile, Pramila and Gayatri said, “We did lots of preparation for the election but the BDO, in a clear nexus with the Kendrapara MLA, spoiled our chances by forging our signatures for withdrawal of applications .” “We had not withdrawn our nominations,” they said.
Congress leader Ganeswar Behera alleged that the Pattamundai BDO is working for the Kendrapara MLA. On Monday, Behera and other leaders drew the attention of the State Election Commissioner (SEC) demanding action against the BDO, who, they said, is working hand-in-glove with the Kendrapara MLA.
Behera alleged that the district administration has not installed any CCTV cameras in the Pattamundai BDO office though it is mandatory for the authorities to record all the nominations and withdrawals.
BDO Prasanta Rout said, “Three candidates, including Pramila, signed their withdrawal petitions before me on Saturday for which I declared Babita as Panchayat Samiti member of Penthapala panchayat”.
Kendrapara MLA Kishor Chandra also denied the allegations saying Babita was rightly declared elected unopposed after other candidates withdrew from the race.
“Now some Congress leaders, with an ulterior motive, have raised the issue to besmirch my political image during the panchayat election”, he added.
District Collector Muralidhar Mallick said, “District administration submitted a report to the SEC on the incident on Monday as per the commission’s direction”.